[Glorantha] an idea for a secondary campaign hook

[Thompson, Todd L.]

As the party is traveling they will to a dead place, well except for the
painter in the group who will see a vibrant liveliness superimposed over
the dead.  If the painter in the party takes the bait and decides to
paint what they see then they will awaken the good "magic" of the place
(which is near its end) as well as the bad "magic" in the form of a
monster.  

The painter will be entranced in what they are doing and oblivious to
any warnings or words from their friends.  As they paint the landscape
will change.  The rest of the party will have to defend the painter.
Both the painter and the warriors will be engaged in an extended AP
battle with the monster.  Though the game mechanics will be the same,
the story element of it will be that the painter is attacking the source
of the monsters magic while the rest are attacking its form.  If the
painter loses a round to the monster some of the painting would
disappear or perhaps the painter painted a dead tree as a dead tree
rather then a live one as they intended.  If they monster can physically
get to the painter they will be an easy target for a powerful attack.
The rest of the party has to distract it and keep it away from the
painter as well as injure it.  

If the party is victorious then they will see the dead place alive once
again and each person that participated will be represented in the
painting.  The spirit (using the word loosely here and not necessarily
meaning a animist spirit) of the place will thank them but also inform
them that monster is merely asleep, that they are not yet strong enough
to permanently defeat it.  It will also say that the life of this place
is now tied to both the painting and the players; and the reverse is
true as well.  The spirit will say that it has forgotten what it was but
that it knows that the players are destined to determine what it is to
become.  They should speak to wise men of all different persuasions
(Orlanthi, Aladryami, Uz, and so on) and from them they will learn the
secrets they need in order to make this place/spirit what it is to
become.  They will need to be careful though for only the wise and those
captured within the painting can look upon it without becoming covetous
of it.  And if the painting is stolen then both the players and this
place will suffer for it until it is reclaimed.

As a narrator I would inform the players that the task of finding the
wise men is entirely up to them and that the answers they get will
depend on who and how they ask as well as how powerful they are as a
group.  Also that even if they don't show the painting to anyone there
will be some that are drawn to its magic.

As for what it could become I can think of many things:
Orlanthi wise men might say a clan, tribe, or even kingdom could be
founded with the help of its magic.  Perhaps they would suggest that it
could be used to make a great bow to shoot the red goddess out of the
sky!

Aldryami might claim it is a lost Aldryami forest (though if it that
were true its nature now would be more of a prototypical magic) and want
to reclaim its magic to be reborn in an existing forest, secretly for
use in the great reforestation project.

A minority faction of Aldryami may feel that cooperation with other
species is still possible and that the great project is misguided and
wrong.  They might see this as an opportunity to gain strength for their
position if the players can work out the diplomacy among all the
affected parties to use the magic to rebirth it as a new Aldryami
forest.

The Mostali might suggest that it is part of the great machine that has
been missing and if repaired will improve the timing of the third gear
of the first pendulum by three-tenths of one percent.  The Mostali would
probably shake his head as the player fail to understand the
significance of that.

In any case the causes to which it can be put to effect would be
significant that whomever it was shown to would need to be wise enough
to know that it isn't something that can be forced that it is something
that the players will have to come to themselves.

Thoughts?

Todd Thompson